


A wistful gaze

by icemakestars



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-23 19:38:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16625189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icemakestars/pseuds/icemakestars
Summary: Gray spent months watching Jellal.He told himself that he was there to spend time with Ultear, that he was only looking out for Erza. He told himself lies, of course.





	A wistful gaze

Gray spent months watching Jellal.

He told himself that he was there to spend time with Ultear, that he was only looking out for Erza. He told himself lies, of course, the truth being something lost even to himself.

In the time he spent with Crime Sorciere, he learnt two things about Jellal.

Firstly, the man seldom smiled. He was secretive, and serious, and even when he did joke it was delivered in such a deadpan manner that Gray was left wondering if maybe he had imagined the humorous inclination of his tone, or the slight rise of his brow. Only when Meredy laughed and Ultear scolded him did Gray release the breath which he had held unintentionally, allowing himself to bask in the warm knowledge that all members of the small guild were opening up around him, feeling more comfortable in his presence. Jellal especially.

And secondly, when Jellal did smile, Gray could not stop thinking about it for weeks. It was usually a small lift of the corner of his lips, his face settling into something more peaceful than the usual anxiety that filled the creases of his features. The one time that Jellal let himself truly let go was when he was drunk, something which Gray would take part responsibility for, but did not come to regret. Not when Jellal threw his head back and laughed, cheeks pink, eyes screwed shut, all reservations lost completely. The noise was deep, guttural, and clearly one that he was not used to making. Gray savoured every tone of it, branded it into his mind like it was the most precious thing in the world. And to Gray, maybe, it was.

That was when he realised that Erza and Ultear had nothing to do with it; he had been watching Jellal for himself. It was something that, once he noticed it, he caught himself in the act more often, and it embarrassed him. Frequently he blushed, stuttered, averted his gaze from the taller, older man lest he suspect something was wrong. And it wasn't, not at all; these feelings were pleasant if not completely unexpected, but Gray knows that they are unrequited. He liked Jellal because they understood each other. They had faced darkness and chosen the light, even if that had been a difficult decision to make and they had both gotten there in very different ways. In Jellal, Gray saw the man he could have been if not for Ur, and Jellal saw the man he wanted to be reflected back in Gray's midnight blue eyes. It was mutual, their feelings of empathy, of the awareness that they were more alike than anyone truly knew. Gray dared not ask for more than that.

"Is something the matter, Jellal?"

Gray's head snaps up at Ultear's words, his gaze following her smirk to where Jellal sat opposite him. He was red in the face, the marking over his eye darkening with him, and he was looking at everything apart from the three people sat around him.

Meredy was barely suppressing her laughter when he spoke,

"Not especially..." Jellal's eyes travel up and meet Gray's, and then he's flustered again, stumbling over himself to get some more wood for the fire, fleeing their camp and the sniggering chorus from the two women.

"God, you two are hopeless." Ultear sighs, and Gray tilts his head in confusion.

It dawns on him slowly, and then all together at once, and he flings himself backwards into the brambles in surprise. Gray can barely hear the howls of laughter over the ringing in his ears, because suddenly his feelings are not hopeless or pointless, because suddenly he has a chance.

Because, suddenly, it seems as though Jellal has been watching him too.


End file.
